And Then They Were Friends

A/N: I wrote this as a final project for one of my classes. It was a practice in fragmented description. I love these characters and hope to expand on their story some day. For now think of this as an introduction. Enjoy!
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It's all rather cliché in Walter's mind, this set up. There are the older bullies—high school boys, so it's even worse—and then there is Walter and his friends, the baby middle schoolers. The setting? Del Monte Mall, summer time. There are people everywhere and yet Walter has never felt more alone. He's terrified of not knowing what to do, of no one wanting to help him. If Walter could close his eyes and wish everything gone he thinks he would. But Mr. Sinclair—in all his middle school teaching wisdom—tells him that is a form of escapism, or something. At this moment Walter can't remember his teacher's exact words. Walter just knows that he feels so alone and so very vulnerable.

Walter watches as the group of older boys keep hassling him, Chip and Duncan. Chip is mouthing off, all talk but his eyes burn with growing fear as the older boys descend upon them. Duncan is as silent as Walter. For once, Walter notices, Duncan isn't following Chip blindly into trouble. And as Chip panics more the faster his mouth runs. A dark chill runs up and down Walter's spine when the older boys' faces contort in annoyance and something is going to happen. Walter can just feel that something bad is going to happen. But this day something good happens and it's a day that Walter will never forget because he has never been so happy being wrong.

There is a voice that comes first before Walter sees anything happen. It's a soft voice that sounds roughed up by too little sleep—or is it too much sleep? Walter thinks it reminds him of a person's baby blanket. An item one keeps with them through life, well used but it never loses its warmth.

"Oh man, come on guys! What are you doing promoting the bully cliché? Picking on little kittens like these…really?" The last word is drawn out in an airy sort of way that sounds a bit like laughter.

Everyone turns to look at the voice and two things happen at once. The group of older boys tense up—similar to if a mother caught them in any wrong doings—but more importantly Walter gets his first glimpse of Him. That first glimpse is drawn straight to the blindingly yellow scarf draped across the new comer's shoulders.

"What the fuck do you want, Jer-awn?" Hisses one of the older boys.

The new comer, who looks to be about the same age as the bullies, narrows his eyes in an annoyed fashion.

"First, I want you to fuck off and then I want you," he inserts a pause here and a twisted little smile forms on his face, "to pronounce my name right. Jeroen, Jeroen, Jeroen. Honestly, it's not that hard." At this point he is sporting a mock pout and Walter feels himself smothering a smile.

This Jeroen person is clearly insane by Walter's standards. His standards include not getting on the bad side of a group of bullies. But Jeroen just stands there and smiles. The bullies are looking uncomfortable but don't seem to be showing any signs of leaving. Jeroen walks over to where Walter and his friends are standing, he movs next to Walter and throws an arm around his shoulders. Walter stands frozen not sure what he should be doing or even feeling but Jeroen seems to ignore this as he bends in close to Walter's ear to whisper.

"Hi, what's your name?"

"Walt. Um, Walter Kaplan." Walter isn't sure why they are whispering but saying his name any louder seems like it would ruin this private moment.

"Nice to meet you Walter. Now let me get rid of these guys so you and I can get to know each other." And he does. Duncan and Chip stare dumbfounded at how Jeroen seems to will the bullies away with a few choice words, something about 'school' and 'three strikes'. The bullies look enraged but leave soon after, throwing chilling glares over their shoulders at Jeroen and Walter. Walter suspects he was in the line of fire because his close proximity to Jeroen whose sickeningly yellow scarf hovers in Walter's peripheral. Maybe it's because his mind is lingering on that fact that Walter no longer feels uneasy about the bullies.

And then Jeroen decides they need to be friends. He is persistent in this endeavor. Walter finds it difficult to not run into Jeroen around town. Walter decides he doesn't mind this behavior at all.

The rest of the summer is spent finding Jeroen "happened" to be in the neighborhood, it is unclear whether or not Jeroen lives at the local mall. But Walter learns the truth one day when Jeroen invites him over; they spend the day playing a ridiculous amount of video games, watching bad Japanese cartoons and realizing that Jeroen has an impressive amount of detective novels. Walter wants to over think the bittersweet fact that such a simple day had to be best day of his life. Days later he comes to the conclusion that he's led a pretty boring life up until meeting Jeroen.

Over time, Walter discovers a few things: Jeroen has lots of free time, Jeroen has no concept of personal space, and apparently Jeroen's favorite colour is yellow because Walter has yet to see the other boy without his attire containing some form of the colour. Upon further inspection of Jeroen's closet there is every type of yellow clothing known to Walter. For fun, Walter starts a guessing game over what yellow clothing Jeroen will wear each day; he even creates a point system. He worries about a lot of things but his main worry at the present is that Jeroen will get tired of hanging out with a kid like him—Duncan and Chip seem to like to remind him of this fear constantly, they don't seem to care for Jeroen. He tries to fight the stress of being alone that builds up by remembering the game and adds up the points. So every time Walter waits to meet up with Jeroen—whether it be sitting in the food court or sitting on his doorstep—and the younger boy spots the flash of yellow, he feels all his anxiousness melt away and smiles as he awards himself a few more points.

Chip and Duncan had their doubts about Jeroen despite their friend's budding whatever. Though they learn to "back off" when they see the change. Walter was always the one in the background, a silent companion. But even Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan are remarking on how Walter seems lighter these days.

"He's always caring the weight of the world on his shoulders. I'm just so happy my baby is finding some peace!" Duncan and Chip, sitting at the kitchen counter in the Kaplan household waiting for Walter to dress, share a glance and quietly agree with Mrs. Kaplan. Walter comes down the stairs at that point, beaming and feeling free.

Which is why it hurts all the more when Jeroen yells at him days later, towards the end of the summer. Walter tries desperately to remember what they were talking about or what he said to upset Jeroen so much, but once Jeroen starts raising his voice Walter's mind panics and goes into sleep mode. Oh right, it had something to do with families. Walter makes another discovery that day, never mention Jeroen's mother. Not that this fact is going to do any good, reasons Walter because by the time Jeroen drops him off at home, they are not talking. Jeroen's jaw is clenched, he is usually so fluid and in this moment he is ridged and stares straight ahead. Walter gets out of the car and stands on the sidewalk outside of his house watching Jeroen drive away. Walking into his house and to his room, Walter sits on his bed and turns his brain on again. It hurts too much so he sleeps. He proceeds to do just that for the last remaining days of summer.

He starts his final middle school year as more of wallflower than ever before. The change is lost on everyone except those that met Jeroen. Chip is nicer suddenly, if not a little bitter biting his tongue on the "I told you so"s and Duncan tries to copy Chip. Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan spend most nights talking in hush whispers that Walter wonders if they really don't think he can hear them. His parents conclude that they should spend more family time together.

Family time ends up being more like "Watch Walter Constantly". They drag him around town for business social events, errands, etc. Instead of feeling loved Walter just feels exhausted and that results in the anxiety of loneliness to dig its claws in deeper. When Walter finally feels like he's going to lose his mind is the day his mother takes him to the bank. While he waits with his mother in line for a teller, he lets his eyes wander observing all the people in the building. And that is when he sees Him, yet it's not Him. Yes, it is Jeroen but he looks dull in comparison to the boy Walter knows, knew, knows. Jeroen's outfit for the day has no style, his hair looks like the normal "just rolled out of bed" look—as opposed to the purposely-styled version—and Walter realizes what the real problem is, what makes his stomach turn and makes everything seem wrong, Jeroen isn't wearing Yellow. Jeroen is standing at an island counter filling out a check with a look of resigned concentration and he's not wearing yellow. None at all and Walter can't stop staring. He knows he's too old to cling to his mother but the crushing anxiety is too much for him and he needs support, needs to know he's not alone and didn't imagine that whole summer. Walter stares and ignores his mother's remarks about being too heavy for him to lean on her. It goes like this until Jeroen finishes writing, places the pen down and walks out of the bank. Walter feels dizzy and tells his mother so. That grabs her attention and she tells him to go sit outside in the fresh air, he doesn't wait for her to finish her sentence before he walks towards the doors.

He's outside but stops and wants to run away when he sees Jeroen standing in front of the bank fiddling with his cell. Walter didn't expect to go after Jeroen, he just needed to leave the crowed building, he tries to stay quiet but it's too late. Jeroen looks up from his phone and glances in Walter's direction, looks at his phone for half a second but then his head is snapping up in shock. They stare at each other; Jeroen is the first to move forward, standing so close like before.

"You. You look like shit." The look of concern and guilt on Jeroen's face freaks Walter out. Walter wonders if he's crying when Jeroen starts looking more concerned, but a quick brush of a his own hand on cheek reassures Walter that he's not crying. He belatedly realizes it's very cold out and he doesn't have a jacket.

"It's cold." Mumbles Walter. Jeroen takes in a breath and lets it out slowly. He builds up a smile and wraps an arm around Walter's shoulders to drag him off towards the direction of the small parking lot and to his car. Once beside the vehicle, Jeroen lets go of Walter to open the passenger door to reach in and grab something. That something ends up being a bright, neon yellow blazer. He manhandles a stunned Walter into the blazer and after offers a sheepish smile.

"Okay so…now that you aren't going to, like, freeze to death." Jeroen lets out a cough out of pure awkwardness. "I'm sorry for being a douche. Like, really sorry. And on top of it all, there was other stuff going on and like…school." A pause, then he looks directly at Walter and says in that playful baby blanket voice, "Take me back?"

Walter feels the warmth returning to him. Looking down at the blazer sleeves he adds up the points for his game.